


Hiding For So Long

by Spark_Stark



Series: To Bring You Back Home [11]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Autistic Spencer Reid, Bisexual Spencer Reid, Boyfriends, Coming Out, Fluff, Gay Aaron Hotchner, Happy Aaron Hotchner, Happy Spencer Reid, Healthy Relationships, M/M, The BAU Team - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:55:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25804747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spark_Stark/pseuds/Spark_Stark
Summary: Aaron starts to become more comfortable in his recently liberated sexuality.
Relationships: Aaron Hotchner/Spencer Reid
Series: To Bring You Back Home [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1820395
Comments: 17
Kudos: 217





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the headcannon about frat boys taking Spencer under their wing was from a tumblr post by dollb0y , so credit where credit is due. I just loved the hc so much.

The team’s next case took them to Detroit with a double homicide and the fear of an escalation. It wasn’t that the Police were completely helpless, but they had too many potential suspects and no idea about how to start eliminating the innocent ones. 

On the second day they were confident in their preliminary profile until the lead detective came in to the conference room that they had set up in with an evidence bag. 

A black school bag with text books and decorated with pins and badges had been sent to the station. The sister of one of the victims quickly identified it as her brother’s bag. Suddenly the team was back to square one, trophies being collected and then sent to the police hadn’t been factored into their profile. 

There was a personal journal, almost completely full. It was handed straight to Reid and he wasted no time delving into the young man’s thoughts written on the pages. It wasn’t something that he particularly liked doing, but it was important to victimology. Either they profiled the deceased from their apartments and families or secret blogs and journals. 

And that’s when the case took a turn. “Guys, I think I found something,” Reid called out to the others filling around the room. They gathered around him where he sat cross legged on a chair, text books and other personal belongings from the bag strewn around him. “Joshua was gay.” He said. 

Morgan sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. “So its hate fuelled murder.” 

“Not necessarily, according to his journal he only came out to his friend this week. He dates all his entries.” Spencer answered. 

Rossi sat down on the table beside Spencer and picked up the journal. “So he was in the closet.” Morgan replied.

They sat down around the table and got to work redoing the profile. JJ was going to talk to the family of both the victims and ask about their sons’ sexualities. Their chattering was distracted and mostly just to fill the silence of the room. “Poor guy was seriously suffering,” Prentiss said sympathetically. 

“He was pushed so deep into the closet by his family he probably had a vitamin D deficiency.” Rossi spoke, skimming through the scribbled pages. 

Hotch huffed out a breath, “That sounds familiar,” He muttered in a level voice that was a staple to his dry humour. Spencer looked up at him and bit the inside of his cheek as he tried to stifle a laugh. 

Prentiss, Morgan and Rossi stared at their boss, unsure of how to respond. Hotch hadn’t spoken much about his sexuality to the team since his and Spencer’s relationship had begun. The others seemed to tune in to the joke that was clearly playing out between the two men but were unaware of what it meant. 

“What is that supposed to mean?” Rossi asked curiously.

Spencer looked back down at the pages around him as he replied to Rossi’s question before Hotch could. “Aaron got cockblocked by his own family,” He said with humour clear in his voice. Hotch pushed against Spencer’s shoulder with his own as he chuckled at his phrasing. 

The profilers turned to Hotch, looking for a further explanation. “I kiss one childhood friend after coming back from boarding school and my parents fire every male help on the plantation.” He said flippantly, a smile teasing his lips.

There was silence in the room for exactly two seconds before Prentiss burst out into loud, unabashed laughter. Morgan chuckled, albeit a lot quieter than Emily. “Wow, I bet that sucked.” She remarked sympathetically. 

“I don’t think he ever got that far,” Spencer murmured, just loud enough for the team to hear. Hotch gave him a playful glare and knocked his knee against Spencer’s under the table, allowing himself to chuckle at the joke. 

“What about you, Spencer?” Dave asked a moment later, when the laughing had subsided enough to pick back up into conversation. 

“What about me?” Spencer responded with confusion. 

“Your coming out experience,” Rossi clarified. “What was yours like?” 

Spencer pursed his lips together as he tried to think back to his teenage years. “The first time I came out to anybody was in my third year at CalTech,” He started reminiscently. “Some guys were picking on me in the library when I was checking out a few books, my friend’s came and sorted them out and walked me back to my dorm. They could tell I was clearly upset but I wouldn’t tell them what happened.” 

“Eventually I told them I thought I was bisexual. They brought me out for a celebration meal and told me that if anybody tried to hurt me or call me names again, they would beat them up for me.” Spencer laughed at the happy memory, a young Spencer Reid in a student diner with three of the college jocks eating burgers and drinking beer. (He had a Pepsi, of course, he was only fifteen.)

The team smiled at him. Rossi leaned back in his chair and spoke, “You had groupies in college?” He asked disbelievingly. 

Spencer snorted at the implication. “God, no.” He said. “They were football players who had a lot of brotherly instincts. They were basically Morgan, saw some lost and lonely twelve year old kid and decided they needed to protect me.” 

Morgan gave him a glare without any real heat behind it. “I’m glad there was somebody to look after Little Pretty Boy,” Morgan said in a teasing but sincere tone. 

“Do you still keep in contact with them?” Emily asked curiously. 

He shrugged, “We call each other up if we’re ever travelling through our cities, but I haven’t seen any of them in three years.” 

The conversation drifted from one topic to another as it usually did until the evening. With their profile reworked and delivered to the Detroit Police Department, the team retired to the hotel for the night.


	2. Chapter 2

On a Thursday morning, Penelope grabbed each team member as they made their way out of the elevator. Hotch being the first in the office in the mornings was normal, if he stayed at Spencer’s or if Spencer was at his the night before, he would leave earlier and let his boyfriend have some time to himself before work. 

He was starting to think it odd that at almost nine o’clock, none of his profilers seemed to be milling around the bullpen or break room. That was because Garcia had skilfully kidnapped them (with permission, sort of.) and holed them up in her office that was definitely too small for six people. 

“My dearly beloved,” She began once she pulled in Rossi, the last to arrive. “I have gathered you here this morning for an emergency meeting.” She announced, a mischievous smirk on his lips.

“Where’s Hotch?” Derek spoke up but received only a glare and a ‘shush’ from her. 

She walked through the crowd and sat down at her desk chair, the team’s attention was drawn from the colourful woman to the large plastic container on the desk. “It had come to my attention that our bossman has never a celebratory gay day.” 

Morgan and Rossi looked at her as if she had grown another head. “A what?” Rossi asked, thinking he had misheard her. 

It was Reid who answered his question. “A party for somebody after they come out.” He explained. He hadn’t known there was a name for it until after Garcia had texted him last week and proposed the idea to him. He had had one when he was in college and whether he knew it at the time or not, it had greatly helped him in the future to be confident in his sexuality. It allowed him to be openly bisexual when he first joined the Bureau. 

“I didn’t know that was a thing,” Rossi said surprised. He was not opposed to the idea, it was a nice thought to celebrate Aaron finally getting to be himself and be accepted for it. 

Penelope grabbed the container beside her and motioned to it with one hand. “I made cake!” She cheered, not exactly staying on track with Rossi. “At lunch we are going to gather in the roundtable room and celebrate. Keep your phones on you, I will text when the time is right.” She placed the cake back on the table and stood up, making a shooing motion with her hands as he walked the slightly puzzled group to the door. 

-  
Five hours later, Garcia trotted from her office into the team’s meeting room with her plastic container and a bundle of excitement. 

Garcia (1.17pm)  
Now is the time!! Call every1 into roundtable room. 

JJ (1.17pm)  
U are a crazy woman… 

JJ did as she was told and made her way into the bullpen to motion them towards the conference room. Reid, Morgan and Prentiss went in through the back door as to not draw attention to Hotch. JJ knocked on Rossi’s door. “Penelope says it’s time,” She announced. 

The senior agent nodded and made his way to the room where the blinds had been drawn. Garcia was bouncing with excitement as she laid out the cake and candles on the table, she had foregone the decorations at Spencer’s suggestion. 

“Okay guys, so when Hotch walks in we’re going to shout congratulations,” She instructed and looked through the small crack in the closed blinds. “They’re coming!” Garcia proclaimed and motioned for everybody to quieten down as JJ and Hotch came closer to the room.

The door handle twisted and the unit chief walking into the room, genuinely surprised when the team shouted ‘congratulations,’ and cheered. 

JJ shut the door behind them and guided Hotch to the table. “What’s all this?” Hotch asked, a smile on his face despite the confusion. He looked at the homemade cake, decorated with a pride flag and an overabundance of glitter and sprinkles. 

“We’re celebrating your gay day.” Garcia answered, as if that made any more sense to him. 

“What?”

Garcia shuffled over to him with the aforementioned cake, candles lit. “Today, Sir Hotch, we are showing how proud of you we are. And cake!” 

Hotch was at a loss of words, looking around the room to all the happy faces of his closest friends. Garcia pushed the cake towards him and told him to make a wish. He closed his eyes and blew out the candles on front of his face. The team cheered and clapped again when he opened his eyes. 

“Penelope, did you do all this?” He asked, happiness softening his usual stoic voice. 

The technical analyst shrugged it off, not wanting to take all the credit. “Your handsome fella helped me out.” She said and winked at him, turning to cut and hand out pieces of the cake. 

There was a happy bustle about the room as they sat down and dug into the delicious dessert. Spencer sat down beside Aaron and took his hand, he looked up to Spencer and smiled. “We’re all proud of you, y’know.” Spencer said quietly, running his thumb over Aaron’s knuckles. 

“I appreciate the gesture.” He said to the group. 

Rossi was seated on the other side of him, he reached over and patted him strongly on his shoulder. Neither man said anything but their eyes spoke the words that their mouths didn’t. Morgan clapped him on the back with a nod of his head. Emily and Garcia admitted they were happy for him and JJ gave him a short but meaningful hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a gay day is a celebration me and my friends have done for the past four years. My gay day is October 21st, the day I came out as trans to my friends. We usually get each other a small gift and bake a few treats. It's a reminder that we're proud and supportive of each other and if you have any LGBTQ+ friends I recommend you do it too!


	3. Chapter 3

Compared to the common cases presented and worked by the B.A.U. regularly, the case they had just wrapped up was quite… tame. The unsub’s profile was difficult to pinpoint because of the unusually un-violent nature of his attacks.

They had considered it all; female, remorseful, hitman, not the main target. But nothing seemed to match up to the crime scenes and victimology. After six days with no leads and no more kills, they were searching ViCAP to see if maybe the unsub had moved on to another town or state, but then a man walked through the doors of the police station and confessed to all four of the murders.

The lead detective had asked the profilers to take his confession, being the experts on human behaviour, they were most likely to have a definitive answer to whether the guy was legitimate or not.

All six profilers took a go at interrogating him and they all came to the same conclusion that he was telling the truth. The team had offered to stay and help the LEO’s with the paperwork and a press conference, but the captain had politely declined. 

That evening they were on the jet back to Quantico, Rossi had suggested they go out for a few drinks seeing as they weren’t suffering from the usual tiredness that came with an adrenaline rush of a raid or difficult interrogation. The team had readily agreed, desperately in need of a night out case-free. 

They grabbed a large table at the back of O’Keefe’s and quickly filled it with a round of drinks. JJ and Morgan were the first to sit down, wasting no time to take their weight off their feet as they slid in side by side at the booth. Rossi and Prentiss pulled out three stools from under the table and saved one for Garcia who came in moments later. The other side of the booth was left for Hotch and Reid. 

Hotch slid in first and gently dragged Spencer in by his hand, pulling his up against his side and placing his arm around his boyfriend’s shoulder. It surprised the team a little to see their boss slowly become for openly affectionate with Spencer after hours.

Of course, he was very professional on cases and at the office, nothing more than a fleeting touch or small smile. But after they had closed their files and switched off for the night, Hotch was always by Spencer’s side, whether it was holding his hand or making dinner plans. He made no attempts to hide the relationship. It had taken almost seven months for him to get to this point, but nobody blamed him or made negative comments about it. Neither did they do much more than smile at the two men whenever they showed themselves like now, with Hotch’s arm comfortably around Reid’s shoulders holding him close with matching grins on their faces.

After JJ had finished sharing a story about Henry and Will from a few weeks ago, Garcia turned to Aaron to ask, “How’s Jack doing recently?”

Aaron smiled brightly as he thought about his son, love and pride clear on his features. “His teacher says he’s excelling in all his classes.” He said proudly. 

Garcia clapped her hands together happily. “He’s turning into Reid,” Emily commented, causing the group to laugh. 

Spencer blushed and dropped his eyes down to his lap as he chuckled along. Aaron’s smile widened as he responded. “Jack adored him. You should see the notebook he has filled with questions to ask Spencer whenever he gets the chance to see him.” 

A chorus of ‘aww’ was the group’s reaction. “Last week when I came home from a run I heard arguing from the other room. When I went in to see what was going on, there were my boys debating whether Spock or The Doctor was smarter.” 

“The Doctor, obviously.” Spencer muttered. 

The conversation quickly morphed once again from topic to topic for the rest of the night. As the sky darkened, team members started to peel away one by one back to their homes. After JJ and Garcia, Hotch noticed Spencer starting to lean more heavily against his side. 

He squeezed Spencer’s shoulder gently. “You tired?” He asked softly, looking down into the warm brown eyes of his boyfriend that stared up into his own. 

“Kinda,” Spencer responded with a shrug, wanting to be honest but not wanting to make it seem as if he wanted the two of them leave if Aaron was enjoying himself. 

To his surprise, Aaron gave him a tired smile as he said “Me too, want to head off home?” Spencer nodded and pushed himself up into a fully seated position. 

They said their goodbyes to the remaining profilers at the table and made their way out of the bar together. Aaron’s hand slid in to the back pocket of Spencer’s jeans while he opened the door out of the building to the car park.


End file.
